"Natural" and "Organic" cigarette descriptors: association with expectancies, subjective effects, topography, and biomarkers of exposure among daily smokers

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PROJECT ABSTRACT Consumers believe that cigarettes with “organic,” “natural,” or similar descriptors are significantly more appealing, healthier, or less harmful than cigarettes without these descriptors. Nationwide, over 45% of US smokers believe that organic tobacco products are less harmful than conventional tobacco products. These misperceptions are even more pronounced among smokers of Natural American Spirit (NAS) cigarettes, who are 22 times more likely than other smokers to believe that their brand might be less harmful. There is some evidence that these misleading descriptors affect potential and current consumers’ smoking behavior, but results are based on self-report. The state of the research does not tell us how smokers interpret the subjective effects of using a “natural” or “organic” tobacco product, nor do we know if smokers’ interpretation of their subjective experience affects their actual smoking behavior and subsequent biological exposures. Guided by response expectancy theory, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between “natural” or “organic” descriptors and health risk expectancies, subjective effects, topography, and resulting biological exposures. Prior experimental research is limited to online brief exposure studies examining changes in health risk expectancies and intentions and has not included NAS smokers, who may have preexisting beliefs about “natural” or “organic” cigarettes that lead to more extreme favorable ratings of “natural” or “organic” cigarettes and more extreme negative ratings of conventional cigarettes than other smokers. The proposed research will examine how expectancies regarding “natural” or “organic” descriptors affect subjective effects (e.g., taste), topography (e.g., total puff volume), and acute exposures (e.g., salivary aldehyde concentrations), linking descriptors with smoking behavior and biomarkers of exposure among daily smokers of NAS and non-NAS cigarettes. To accomplish these aims, we will enroll 250 adult daily cigarette smokers of NAS or non-NAS brands (125 in each group) in a within-subjects human laboratory study manipulating four expectancy conditions (own brand comparator, “natural” advertising, “organic” advertising, “conventional” advertising). Given NAS smokers’ likely preexisting beliefs about natural/organic tobacco products, we will examine moderation by NAS preference in each hypothesis. Given women’s more favorable beliefs about organic products and preliminary data from our team, we will also examine moderation by gender in each hypothesis. This work addresses the FDA Center for Tobacco Products’ (CTP) goal to understand how changes in tobacco product characteristics (i.e., descriptors) are associated with knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Understanding how descriptors affect not only perceptions but also the subjective interpretation of using a cigarette is important as FDA CTP moves forward with regulating not just the packaging, but also the design of tobacco products. These descriptors may affect consumers’ interpretation of the subjective effects of smoking, leading to unexpected responses to regulatory actions meant to reduce the abuse liability or appeal of a product.